GLENDALE, Ky. — With commercial battery production officially starting at the BlueOval SK manufacturing plant in Hardin County, Kentucky, nearby businesses are hopeful it'll mean economic growth for them.

Mountain Mike’s Coffee House in the small, rural town of Glendale has welcomed a lot of new customers over the last three years, since the project broke ground in 2022.

Owner Lisa Burchard says stores there have benefitted from the nearly 1,500 people now working at the massive factory – called Kentucky 1 -- which is now open and operating just down the road.

"[At] the beginning [there] was a lot of the construction, and the construction workers would come in and that helped boost the sales a lot," Burchard said. "Sometimes we'll have no Blue Oval workers coming in, and then all of a s

See Full Page